Paul McAuliffe (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)
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61. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade his views of the Independent Commission for Reconciliation and Information Recovery, recently established by the UK government; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27584/24]

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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The UK Legacy Act, including its provisions establishing the Independent Commission on Reconciliation and Information Recovery, represents a unilateral departure from the shared approach to dealing with the past agreed by the two British and Irish governments and most political parties in Northern Ireland in the Stormont House Agreement. Notably, it was drafted without any reference to cross border cooperation

The Government believe that the Legacy Act and the ICRIR will not draw a line under legacy issues, but will instead ensure that the past remains a source of contention, suspicion and mistrust, undermining the reconciliation which we have worked so hard to progress.

I spoke to the Secretary of State on 1 May, the day that the ICRIR became operational. I emphasised the Government’s view that the establishment of the ICRIR is a profoundly retrograde step which will damage reconciliation and highlighted the impact that cutting off of investigations will have on individual families, who have fought for decades to have their voices heard in a court. That engagement was in line with my consistent approach to this issue: since taking office, when the UK legacy legislation was still a bill before Westminster, I was clear that it was not and is not fit for purpose.

In addition, I have made it very clear that we believe certain provisions of the Legacy Act, including those which give the ICRIR the right to grant immunity for gross human rights violations, is in breach of the European Convention on Human Rights. The Government has initiated an inter-State case at the European Court of Human Rights on this issue. In those circumstances, it is very difficult to see how we can engage with the newly established Commission.